In the bodybuilding world, one of the most important “principles” of lifting is the need to establish a mind : muscle connection.

It’s not enough to lift the weight. For maximum success, the trainee must put all of his/her intention into the muscle that is being worked.

For many of us who aren’t bodybuilders…who lift for strength, power, endurance, athletic performance, etc…this seems like a giant load of new age nonsense.

Until now:

In this new study, researchers found that when trainees (working with loads between 20 -60% of their 1 Rep Maximum) focused on the muscles being worked, they were able to increase muscle activation…without decreasing the activity of other muscles involved in the lift.

By focusing on the muscles, they actually made the muscles work harder.

Which is exactly what those bodybuilding gurus have been saying for decades.

What does this mean to you?

If you lift weight in 20-60% of 1 Rep Max range, focusing intently on the muscles being worked seems like a really great idea.

If you lift in the 80+% 1 RM range, there is no need to focus on the working muscles…you should be focusing on perfect form & execution…your nervous system will look after how many muscle fibers are contracting to complete your lift.

In the 60-80% range, I don’t know what to tell you. The researchers in this study focused on intensities of 20, 40, 50, 60 and 80 % of the pre-determined 1RM.

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If you’re still caught in the cardio-only rut or listening to celebrity trainers who admonish us to “never lift heavy weights” lest it make us “bulky,” read on to see what women’s workouts should look like today.

The New Paradigm

The updated heavy hitter in fat loss, health, and fitness is, without a doubt, strength training. I’m not talking about bodybuilding here, and you don’t have to be an athlete to strength train. You most certainly don’t have to be a guy to strength train, either!

Experts and scientists now agree that while the right nutrition and cardio-respiratory training are important to health and fat loss, strength training is the third most critical component.

In case you’re wondering, you definitely won’t become the She-Hulk of your neighborhood if you lift weights heavier than three pounds (or 100!). Women have much less testosterone than men and we have to work hard to build even a small amount of muscle. Even then, we can never build muscles as big as guys unless we’re juiced up on steroids – not likely in your case, I’m betting.

This may surprise you, but strength training helps me express my femininity. Being strong and fit is an important way I define myself. And it’s not an exaggeration to say that strength training has increased my self-confidence in ways I can’t even begin to explain.

Take a look at how strength training is a smart strategy for your body and mind.

Burn Mega Calories

If you’ve ever done a strength-training circuit, you know it can get your heart pumping. Squats, lunges, chest presses, bent-over rows, and shoulder presses back to back without rest is a major calorie burner!

Not only that, but strength training burns calories when you’re not exercising, too. This “afterburn” effect results when your muscles are busy repairing themselves after a good, heavy lifting session.

Since muscle is metabolically active tissue that burns fat even when you’re at rest, strength training increases your metabolism. This means the more muscle, the more fat burning!

Rock Functional Strength

You don’t have to be a bench-pressing beast to benefit from increased strength. Even lifting moderate weights can make you feel stronger and fitter for everyday activities like carrying your kids, pushing the lawnmower, or changing a tire.

Stay Youthful

We can stay strong and active into old age by integrating resistance training into our routine. One study at McMaster University showed that strength training actually reversed the effects of aging by changing tissue at the cellular level in healthy senior citizens [1].

It’s important to understand that unless we counteract it, losing muscle mass is an inevitable part of aging. Feminine fitness weight training helps us stay strong and mobile instead of becoming injured and inactive (which almost always leads to weight gain, too).

Since women are especially susceptible to bone loss, resistance training is also a must for stimulating growth in our bone density as we age.

Look Hot

Of course, when you’ve been strength training awhile, along with eating nutritious foods and managing your caloric intake, you’ll see muscle definition pop on your arms, abs, and legs. Feeling good about your body might be your top motivator, and that’s perfectly fine, too.

I used to have the flattest behind around – affectionately (or not) known as a “mom butt.” But doing heavy squats, lunges, kettle bell swings, and hip thrusts completely transformed my backside into one I am truly proud of (shake it!).

Getting started with strength training is easier than you might think. If you’re a beginner, I recommend checking out the articles here at Health Habits, my beginner’s guide, and “The New Rules of Lifting for Women,” by Lou Schuler.

Simply keep three things in mind and you can’t go wrong:

Your top priority will always be impeccable form.

You will keep progressing as long as you continue to add weight.

Allowing your muscles to recover is just as important as your workouts.

Enjoy the benefits of feminine fitness strength training, and I’ll see you in the weight room.

About the Author

Suzanne Digre is a NASM-certified personal trainer who coaches clients online and in-person. With over 15 years of lifting experience, Suzanne writes at workoutnirvana.com, where she shares her passion for strength training and clean eating.

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Last week it was Push-Ups…this week, we are focusing on developing leg strength with the bodywight squat. More specifically, today’s video showcases a progression of bodyweight squat variations..from the ultra-beginner high-chair two-leg bodyweight squat..all the way to single-leg pistol squats…ouch.

Note – readers of Health Habits come in all different shapes, sizes and experience levels. Some of you will need to start with the most easiest squat variations performed in the video. Others will be ready to tackle the pistol squats. Most will be somewhere in the middle. Either way, I hope this video helps encourage you to push yourself toward greater levels of fitness.

Teaching my clients how to properly/safely squat is very, very important. Squatting is a very natural movement – babies squat before they walk. However, over time, most adults develop muscle imbalances and bad habits which made proper squatting technique next to impossible.

So…in addition to today’s video, I am going to give you two VERY important squatting tips.

1. Squatting is not about bending your knees and hips…it’s about dropping the weight of your torso straight down toward the ground. Focus on dropping your belly down between your legs.

2. Squatting involves movement in your hips, knees and ankles. Unfortunately, due to those bad habits and muscle imbalances mentioned above, most people put too much stain on their knees during the movement.

To fix that, I make sure that they shift their center of gravity backwards towards their hips…saving their knees undue load/stress. I do this by employing two “tricks”

The first is to have them squat facing a wall with their toes no more than 6 inches from the wall…forcing them to stick their butts backward.

The second trick involves some quasi-gross visualization….Imagine you got up in the middle of the night and needed to go to the bathroom…unfortunately the power was out and it was pitch black. You stagger into the bathroom, lift the seat, turn around and reach with your derrière…aiming in the dark to sit down safely without ending up on the floor.

The point of this exercise is to make them really stick their butt backwards when they squat..once again saving the knees.[/box]

Every January, gyms/health clubs/fitness centers around the world fill up with fitness virgins…eager to get in shape, drop a few pounds and transform their fat into fit.

Unfortunately, most of those newbies have no idea how to properly and safely perform resistance exercises…and are left to flail and flounder until they eventually quit out of frustration, embarrasment and/or injury.

All of these different push-up variations have one thing in common…good form Tight core muscles…not letting your back/belly droop. Tight leg muscles..helping you transmit energy effectively Shoulder blades retracted and held tight…protecting the shoulder joint from potential energy Proper breathing pattern – exhaling a thin stream of air as you push-up and inhaling a thin stream of air as you lower down to the floor[/box]

One of the most important things I can do as a personal trainer is convince my new clients that their body is capable of making amazing improvements if they are willing to put in the work.

To prove that point to one of my most incredibly stubborn male clients, I decided to challenge him to a little contest.

The deal was that between Novemeber and March, we would both follow the same training, nutrition and supplement programs.

If he stuck to the program (90% adherence) and didn’t see a big change, I would refund everything he paid me for personal training.

If he stuck to the program and did see a big change, he had to give me 5 pairs of his Toronto Blue Jays season tickets.

If he didn’t stick to the program, I got the tickets and a weekend with his lady…a 1963 Corvette Stingray.

And if I didn’t stick to the program…I had to refund his money regardless of how he did.

Fast forward to March 2013

We both stuck with the program

My client gained 18 pounds (12 muscle/6 fat)

My client increased every test lift (10 lifts) by a minimum of 34%

My client increased his 3 target lifts as follows:

Squat went from 185 lbs x 5 reps to 365 x 5 reps

Bench Press went from 205 lbs x 1 to 295 lbs x 1 rep

Hanging Deadlift (from knees) from 225 lbs x 1 rep to 505 lbs x 1 rep

Not bad for a 48 year old guy with bad knees and a creaky lower back.

What about Me???

I gained 49 pounds (23 muscle/26 fat)

My test lifts increased by a minimum of 35%

My 3 target lifts went back to levels I haven’t achieved in a decade:

Squat went from 475 lbs x 5 reps to 675 lbs x 5 reps

Bench Press went from 405 lbs x 1 rep to 545 lbs x 1 rep

Hanging Deadlift went from 525 lbs x 5 reps to 765 lbs x 5 reps

What Now?

My client is going to start following a strict Paleo diet with the goal of dropping 15 lbs of body-fat before summer. We are also switching his training from strength to fitness/agility/speed and overall health.

I have started back on a hybrid Paleo diet designed to melt off all that body-fat I gained eating potatoes and rice. Like my client, I am going to switch my focus from strength to fitness/agility/speed and overall health. Along with the fat gain, my 43 year-old joints aren’t too happy about the strength/size phase. My knees and shoulders hurt…even with all of the rehab & mobility work I did over the winter.

Your foot stays in place when you’re moving from side to side or exploding from a dead-start into a full-out sprint.

Unlike most running shoes that have a built-up heel and force you into an unhealthy heel-toe running form, the almost completely flat profile of the Nano 2.0 allows you to adopt a natural “barefoot” running style.

But before you go thinking that the Nano is a true minimalist/barefoot shoe, we need to look at the sole of the shoe. Because, unlike most barefoot shoes, the Nano has a thicker sole & midsole designed to…

Provide more cushioning for runners, and

Provide a flat, stable base for weightlifting

As this shoe was designer for Crossfitters who do all manner of exercise, this was the most necessary design feature of the shoe. And in my humble opinion, Reebok has done a fine job of engineering.

I have been running in barefoot/minimalist shoes for years, and while I did notice the loss of “ground-feel” caused by the thickness of the sole/midsole, I had no problems going for a 30 minute jog prior to hitting the gym for a resistance training workout.

[box type=”note”]This rigid sole would be a drawback for trail runners who want to “feel” the ground conditions and run “naturally”. Due to this, I wouldn’t recommend the Nano 2.0 for trail running or for runners who require high levels of proprioception.[/box]

While the Nano doesn’t provide optimal proprioceptive feedback, it does provide one of the most important features of a barefoot shoe – natural foot movement

The wide toe box and “natural” foot shape allows your foot to move as it was designed to move. Unlike most fitness shoes with a narrow toe box and all manner of corrective technology, the Nano 2.0 doesn’t force your foot into any un-natural positions. And this is a very very good thing.

All in all, I am a big fan of this shoe. I have used them over the past month for a wide variety of workouts and I wasn’t disappointed by them once.

If you can complete this in under 5 minutes, you need to take it up a notch by not racking the bar at any time during the 100 reps of excruciating pain & nausea. You can rest whenever you want, but you have to keep standing with the bar on your back

If you’re up for the challenge, try to beat my time….

135 lbs (I am weighing 248 right now, but it was easier to just load the bar with a 45 lb plate on either side)

7 min 22 seconds

and I never rested the bar

have fun

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[box type=”note”]If you’re finding that you’re not gaining or shudder…losing some muscle mass on this plan, I want you to add extra carbs to this shake – fruit, sweeteners, whatever Take the calories away from the carbs you eat during the rest of the day[/box]

Rest of the Day Nutrition

In addition to the workout supplements, I recommend 2 tbsps of fish oil to be taken each day. Personally, I take 1 tbsp in the morning and the second spoonful before I go to bed.

Next, we need to subtract the supplement calories from the daily allowance…

Fish Oil (240 cal)

Size On (180 cal)

Whey Protein shake (200 – 260 cal)

Total – 620-680 calories

This leaves our test subject with between 1080 and 1492 calories for the rest of the day

Dr. Ray McClanahan (podiatric physician) believes that the best way to treat most foot problems is by allowing the foot to function exactly as nature intended. Unfortunately, the shoes you are wearing right probably don’t do that. This realization is why so many people are giving barefoot / minimalist shoes a try. Unfortunately, if you have been wearing “normal” shoes for most of your life, switching to a barefoot shoe isn’t going to fix your feet.

This is where the Correct Toes spacer can help. They are designed to spread your toes into their natural and correct position…improving “proprioception, which then allows the brain to better promote balance and optimal muscle function”.

Paired with a quality pair of barefoot / minimalist shoes, Correct Toes returns your foot to its natural state, treating most foot problems, and by extension, many musculoskeletal problems.

There is no point in buying the Correct Toes spacer and fixing your gnarly old feet if you’re going to keep shoving them into a pair of “normal” shoes and scrunching them together like some masochistic Chinese foot binding experiment. What you need to do is buy a pair (or two) of barefoot / minimalist shoes that allow your feet to move as they were originally intended.

And that’s one of the reasons why I have been wearing a pair of Sanuk Chibas all summer long.

Some of the other reasons are…

they are comfortable as heck,

can be worn on the beach AND with casual clothes,

they look pretty darn good

and they come with an antimicrobial additive…meaning they won’t stink after hours and hours of barefoot wear.

SizeOn

A few months back, I started working with two different 40+ year old clients who wanted to add some muscle to their “slender” physiques. In addition to a complete restructuring of their diets and an introduction to a truly nasty training program, I put them both on Gaspari Nutrition’s SizeOn product.

Instead of taking a bunch of different products, I wanted one supplement that would service their workout endurance demands as well as help them pack some meat on their hardgainer bodies. And SizeOn turned out to work perfectly.

Both clients had already started gaining muscle with SizeOn, but when we added it into the mix, things really took off.

Both gained significant muscle mass

Subject #1 gained 14 lbs of muscles while losing 7 lbs of fat

Subject #2 gained 11 lbs of muscle while losing 22 lbs of fat.

Pretty significant transformations…especially when you consider that both of these guys were both ectomorphs and lifelong hard-gainers.

I can’t say enough about this product – Great Stuff!!! – Here are the ingredients if you want to check it out.

The purpose of this study is to determine the relative muscular effort (RME) while performing the squat exercise. Specifically, the researchers were looking at the effects of barbell load and squat depth on hip extensor, knee extensor and ankle plantar-flexor RME.

Study Design

Ten strength-trained women performed squats (50-90% of 1 RM) in a motion analysis laboratory to determine hip extensor, knee extensor and ankle plantar-flexor net joint moment (NJM). Maximum isometric strength in relation to joint angle for these muscle groups was also determined. RME was determined as the ratio of NJM to maximum voluntary torque matched for joint angle.

DAY 4 – Shoulders / Vertical Back / Neck & Traps

Warm-Up

Each workout begins with a 10-15 minute warm-up all of your joints and muscles to get them ready for the workout. Feel free to use the warm-up I lay out in my Best Body workouts. The idea is to lube up your joints and warm up the muscles.

The Workout

7 supersets in a row – 2 of them single limb sets – 5 of them with 2 exercises apiece

DAY 3 – Arms / Core

Warm-Up

Each workout begins with a 10-15 minute warm-up all of your joints and muscles to get them ready for the workout. Feel free to use the warm-up I lay out in my Best Body workouts. The idea is to lube up your joints and warm up the muscles.

DAY 2– Chest / Horizontal Back / Rear Delt

Warm-Up

Each workout begins with a 10-15 minute warm-up all of your joints and muscles to get them ready for the workout. Feel free to use the warm-up I lay out in my Best Body workouts. The idea is to lube up your joints and warm up the muscles.

DAY 1 – Quads / Hip flexors / Hams / Glutes

Warm-Up

Each workout begins with a 10-15 minute warm-up all of your joints and muscles to get them ready for the workout. Feel free to use the warm-up I lay out in my Best Body workouts. The idea is to lube up your joints and warm up the muscles.

The Workout

Quads / Hip Flexors

Perform the following 4 Quad / Hip Flexor exercises in series – 1,2,3,4

Every week, I get a couple of readers ask me about training programs for hardgainers. And while, I do have a great size-building workout posted already….it isn’t a true hardgainer program. So here are the instructions for my ultimate hardgainer workout.

In between these workouts, don’t do anything more challenging than a brisk walk.

All of these rules work together to do one thing:

To force the targetted muscles to do the most amount of direct work that is humanly possible….and then help you recover from it. For whatever reason, hardgainers need to be pushed really, really, really hard to force their bodies to adapt and create new, bigger muscles

Okay, that’s the theory….here’s what you’re actually going to do.

The Week at a Glance

For true hardgainers, I have set this up as a 4 day split routine with a mandatory 5th Rest Day.

After the rest day, you start over with Day 1.

This means 6 workouts per week.

Quads / Hip flexors / Hams / Glutes

Chest / Horizontal Back / Rear Delts

Biceps / Triceps / Core

Shoulders (Front/Side) / Vertical Back / Neck & Traps

Rest

Repeat

Note:This 4 day program can be modified to fit your goals/lifestyle/training experience level

Instead of 4 on-1 off, you could do it over 7 days with M/W/F/Sun being your training days

Or over 8 days with an off day in between each training day

Or you include include one or more of these workouts into an existing program to bring up lagging bodyparts

The 4 on-1 off works best, but it’s pretty intense

A Day at a Glance

Each workout begins with a 10-15 minute warm-up all of your joints and muscles to get them ready for the workout. Feel free to use the warm-up I lay out in my Best Body workouts. The idea is to lube up your joints and warm up the muscles.

With this workout, instead of counting reps, set & weight lifted, each muscle group will be trained for a set time, with the goal being to do the most “work” during that set period of time.

Each muscle group will be hit with 2 – 4 exercises during that set time period.

Each muscle group will usually be hit by both compound (bench press) and isolation exercises (DB chest fly).

I have organized the exercises in a specific order to maximize your results.

We will be using 3 different set-extension techniques to help you extend the length of the set and maximize the volume of work inflicted on your muscles.

Researchers from the University of Illinois have made a very interesting discovery regarding exercise and adult stem cells.

They found that after they put their little lab mice through a little lab mouse workout, there was a dramatic increase in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in their little lab mouse muscles.

This is important for a number of reasons.

It establishes a link between exercise and the health of your muscle (no big surprise there)

However, it may mean future stem cell treatments for age or disease related muscle loss as well as rehabilitation for injured muscles

It also means that once the research progresses a little further, you can bet that bodybuilders will find a way to incorporate MSC treatments into their regime of steroids, growth hormone, diuretics and insulin

And after the bodybuilding community has found a way to MacGyver MSCs into their bodies without killing themselves, this therapy will eventually filter down to pro athletes, Olympians, amateur athletes, college students, the dudes at your gym and eventually every 50+ man going through a mid-life crisis.

Just think…in 20 years, we could have senior citizens walking around looking like the 1970s version of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

It’s probably a false alarm, but researchers from NC State have found that the plant steroid homobrassinolide has “anabolic steroid-like” effects with minimal side effects.

Testing this plant steroid on lab rats, the researchers documented:

an increase in appetite

an increase in lean muscle mass

an increase in the size & number of muscle fibers

and an increase in physical performance

with minimal or no androgenic side-effects

Woo Hoo!!!!

Mustard flavored steroids with no side effects!!!!

So, what the heck is homobrassinolide?

Homobrassinolide is a brassinosteroid found in the mustard plant.

Brassinosteroids are plant-derived polyhydroxylated derivatives of 5a-cholestane, structurally similar to cholesterol-derived animal steroid hormones and insect ecdysteroids, with no known function in mammals.

28-Homobrassinolide (HB), the specific HB tested in this experiment, is a steroidal lactone with potent plant growth-promoting properties

Both oral (up to 60 mg/kg) and subcutaneous (up to 4 mg/kg) administration of HB showed low androgenic activity when tested in the Hershberger assay.

Moreover, HB showed no direct binding to the androgen receptor in vitro.

HB treatment was also associated with an improved physical fitness of untrained healthy rats, as evident from a 6.7% increase in lower extremity strength, measured by grip test.

In the gastrocnemius muscle of castrated animals, HB treatment significantly increased the number of type IIa and IIb fibers and the cross-sectional area of type I and type IIa fibers.

These findings suggest that oral application of HB triggers selective anabolic response with minimal or no androgenic side-effects and begin to elucidate the putative cellular targets for plant brassinosteroids in mammals.

Conclusion

Don’t get excited when a supplement company comes out with a new homobrassinolide supplement next month.

Even if homobrassinolide pans out as a treatment for muscle wasting and an awesome new supplement for 16 year old boys sick of getting sand kicked in their face….it’s going to be years and years before an effective product comes to market.

Brazilian researchers have discovered the absolute coolest way to build massive muscles.

In their study, 16 men were subjected to a laboratory workout consisting of 4 sets of bicep curls at 80% of their 1 RM. The men were asked to perform repetitions to voluntary fatigue and the number of reps were recorded.

In between sets, researchers applied wet bags of ice to the biceps of 8 of the men.

RESULTS?

The 8 men who received the inter-set cooling protocol were able to complete 21% more reps than the control group.

And if that wasn’t cool enough, blood tests indicated that those extra reps were achieved without inducing any additional muscle damage.

Conclusion

Hypertrophy is primarily a function of load, volume and recovery.

Bodybuilders spend thousands of dollars on drugs and supplements to achieve a 20% increase in training volume

The first guy who tries this at your gym is going to look like a freak

In spite of two major knee reconstructions, I love running long distances.

Even though I am built like an hypermuscled Clydesdale, I still love throwing on a pair of shoes, hitting the trails and watching the world slow down as I ground out the miles. Aside from the numerous health & fitness benefits, I love how I “feel” when I run.

So, I can understand why a LOT of runners:

Focus exclusively on running

Ignore the other components of physical fitness

Allow muscle mass to waste away

And end up with a Skinny-Fat body

But…it doesn’t have to be that way.

It is possible for long distance runners to hold onto a decent amount of muscle mass and avoid looking like a anorexic Hollywood actress

Here’s how.

Nutrition

The Paleo Diet should form the base of your eating plan. The high nutritient : calorie ratio makes it the best choice for repairing muscular damage brought on by your workouts.

Fish oil and a quality green food are two base supplements that I recommend to all clients – runners or not.

While Paleo is your best choice throughout the day, when it comes to your pre & peri-workout nutrition, Paleo carbs (except for fruit juice) aren’t going to work. Too much fiber, slow digestion, full belly. Not good when you’re running for miles & miles.

What you need is Sugar and BCAAs before, during & after each work – cardio & resistance.

Same warm-up as always…with the goal being to warm up the muscles & lubricate the joints.

.

Feel free to substitute exercises as long as they get your joints all warmed up.

,

Circles – Starting with the ankles and moving all the way up to your neck, gently make circles with all of your joints – 10 revolutions each joint in each direction

.

Dead Bug – Push your lower back into the floor and articulate your arms & legs as in the video. 1 set of as many reps as possible with your lower back pushed into the floor. When your back starts to arch…STOP

As I mentioned in Part Six, each workout has 6 main lifts. Most main lifts will also employ a “wake up” exercise to get your fast twitch muscle fibers primed & ready I have arranged each of the six (6) lifts by movement or muscle group in a way to maximize performance & recovery.

.

Superset #1

.

This first superset focuses on the horizontal pulling movement

.

The goal is to perform as many sets as possible in 10 minutes – 3-8 reps per set Start with the…

.

Wake-up exercise – 1 Arm Isometric Row – Grab hold of an immovable object (ie. heavy barbell, cable stack, piece of equipment, flagpole, etc and try to pull it towards you using a rowing motion. Neither you nor the object should move. Hold for 2-5 seconds per rep for 3-8 reps Then, move as quick as possible to the….

.

Main Lift – 1 Arm DB Row – 3-8 reps – perform the concentric part of the lift (lifting up) as quickly as possible – choose a weight you can perform 8 reps & stick with that weight

.

Rest long enough to catch your breath & go again (wake-up left arm, main lift left arm, wake-up right arm , main lift right arm…)

.

Superset #2

This second superset focuses on the posterior chain (lower body).

The goal is to perform as many sets as possible in 10 minutes – 3-8 reps per set..

Wake-up exercise – Broad Jumps – 3 reps

After a few broad jumps, move as quick as possible to the…..

Main Lift – Deadlift or Pullthroughs – 3-8 reps – perform the concentric part of the lift (lifting up) as quickly as possible – choose a weight you can perform 8 reps & stick with that weight

With a “slight” forward lean, walk (gradually) forward until the resistance starts to pull you backwards or you start bending at the spine.

This exercise mimics a bridge/plank exercise, except instead of being in a horizontal position, you are vertical

To make it tougher, stand on one foot.

5 minutes – back & forth between the 2 exercises – focus on form

After 5 minutes, catch your breath & move onto…

.

Superset #5

This time, we have a 5 minute superset focusing on the core – side flexion and/or rotation

Their is NO wake-up exercise …today we have just 1 Main Lift

Main Lift #1 – Standing Cable Woodchops – Starting with a horizontal woodchop, perform 3-8 reps (using an 8 rep weight) from one side, then switch to the other side and repeat. After chopping to both sides, adjust the position of the cable – setting it higher – this creates a decline movement, provides a different stimulus & decreases the difficulty as fatigue begins to set in.

5 minutes – back & forth between the 2 exercises – focus on form

After 5 minutes, catch your breath & move onto….

Superset #6

This time, we have a 5 minute superset focusing on some of your “beach muscles”

The is NO wake-up exercise …just 2 exercises – back to back – for as many reps as you can get in 5 minutes

Lift #1 – Cable Tricep Pushdowns – palms down – elbows pinned to your sides – pick a weight that you can handle 10 reps and then perform between – 3-10 reps – perform the concentric part of the lift (pushing down) as quickly as possible

Lift #2 – Reverse Grip/Palms Down Cable Bicep Curls – pick a weight that you can handle 10 reps and then perform between – 3-10 reps – perform the concentric part of the lift (lifting up) as quickly as possible

Same warm-up as always…with the goal being to warm up the muscles & lubricate the joints. Feel free to substitute exercises as long as they get your joints all warmed up.

Circles – Starting with the ankles and moving all the way up to your neck, gently make circles with all of your joints – 10 revolutions each joint in each direction

Dead Bug – Push your lower back into the floor and articulate your arms & legs as in the video. 1 set of as many reps as possible with your lower back pushed into the floor. When your back starts to arch…STOP

Most main lifts will also employ a “wake up” exercise to get your fast twitch muscle fibers primed & ready

I have arranged each of the six (6) lifts by movement or muscle group in a way to maximize performance & recovery.

Superset #1

The goal is to perform as many sets as possible in 10 minutes – 3-8 reps per set

Start with the…

Wake-up exercise – Bodyweight Jump Squats – 3-8 reps

Then, move as quick as possible to the….

Main Lift – Barbell Front Squats or Back Squats – 3-8 reps – perform the concentric part of the lift (lifting up) as quickly as possible – choose a weight you can perform 8 reps & stick with that weight

Rest long enough to catch your breath & go again (wake-up, main lift, wake-up, main lift…)

After 10 minutes, rest a little bit & move onto….

Superset #2

The goal is to perform as many sets as possible in 10 minutes – 3-8 reps per set

Start with the…

Wake-up exercise – Isometric Shoulder Press – 3-8 reps

Press up into an immovable object….as hard as you can – hold each rep for 1 second – Repeat for 3-8 reps

Then, move as quick as possible to the….

Main Lift – Push Press – 3-8 reps – perform the concentric part of the lift (lifting up) as quickly as possible – choose a weight you can perform 8 reps & stick with that weight

Note – we will focus mainly on techniques 2 and 3. The heavy concentrics will only be used prior to the big compound powerlifting style lifts.

After waking up the fast-twitch fibers, we will stimulate them with a variety of explosive concentric lifts with the focus on muscle tension and speed of movement.

Note – We will not be using slow paced eccentric lifts in this program. I use that technique with trainees focusing primarily on maximum strength. For trainees interested in power, speed & fat loss, this technique tends to do more harm than good.

But, for reference, I am listing all 3 of the main lifting techniques used during the work sets.

Slightly Less Intense Concentric Muscular Contractions…through a full range of motion and performed as fast as possible. Think explosive bench presses.

Slightly Less Intense Eccentric Muscular Contractions….but we drastically increase the time under tension. Sloooowwww negatives on those bench presses.

With no pause at the top or bottom of the lift. The muscle is always under tension.

Program Design

Because this program is designed to make you look great & perform better, I will be choosing mainly compound exercises that

use a lot of different muscles

work in numerous planes of movement

tax your energy systems quite heavily

and don’t fit well into split routines

For these reasons, the Deadpool Ultimate Workout will consist of three (3) total body workouts per week.

What you do during the rest of the week depends upon your goals / lifestyle.

For pain reduction / looser muscles /joint mobility problems, try out a Feldenkrais class or Pilates or a Circular Strength Training class or yoga or go for some chiropractic/acupuncture/soft tissue therapy. And don’t forget the foam roller.

For a little fun, try a dance class or join a boot camp or play tennis or golf or swimming or tantric sex….

But, keep in mind that your Deadpool workouts are pretty tough on the nervous system and that any additional workouts should be of a lower intensity to allow for nervous system recovery.

The Workouts

Each workout will include six (6) main lifts

Not including warm-up and cool-down, each workout will not last longer than 60 minutes.

Each work set will consist of between 3-8 reps.

Each work set will include a “wake up” exercise & a main lift

During the main lift, the concentric portion of each lift is performed as fast as possible – lots of power

Minimize your rest between sets

Okay, those are the basics.

There are a lot more options that we can use, but let’s start here and once you have mastered this workout, we will add in some more tricks.

Workout #1

As I mentioned above, each workout has 6 main lifts. Most main lifts will also employ a “wake up” exercise to get your fast twitch muscle fibers primed & ready

I have arranged each of the six (6) lifts by movement or muscle group in a way to maximize performance & recovery.

Posterior Chain – Lower Body – Choose from deadlift, cable pullthrough, hip thrust, Olympic lifts, GH Raise, sled push/prowler/etc – Perform as many sets as possible in 10 minutes – 3-8 reps per sets – Start with a weight that you can move for 8 reps with good form – for now, leave that weight constant – Use a “wake-up” exercise

Anterior Chain – Lower Body – Choose from Squat, lunge, reverse sled drags – Perform as many sets as possible in 10 minutes – 3-8 reps per sets – Start with a weight that you can move for 8 reps with good form – for now, leave that weight constant – Use a “wake-up” exercise

Vertical push – Choose from Overhead press, push press, thruster, handstand pushup – Perform as many sets as possible in 10 minutes – 3-8 reps per sets – Start with a weight that you can move for 8 reps with good form – for now, leave that weight constant – Use a “wake-up” exercise

Horizontal push – Choose from Chest presses, pushups, dive bombers, st arm press or reverse horizontal shrug – Perform as many sets as possible in 10 minutes – 3-8 reps per sets – Start with a weight that you can move for 8 reps with good form – for now, leave that weight constant – Use a “wake-up” exercise

Upper body horiz pull – Choose from Bodyweight rows, face pull, horiz shrug or st arm row – Perform as many sets as possible in 10 minutes – 3-8 reps per sets – Start with a weight that you can move for 8 reps with good form – for now, leave that weight constant – Use a “wake-up” exercise

Posterior Chain – Lower Body – Choose from Deadlift, pullthrough, hip thrust, Olympic lifts, GH Raise, sled push/prowler/etc – Perform as many sets as possible in 10 minutes – 3-8 reps per sets – Start with a weight that you can move for 8 reps with good form – for now, leave that weight constant – Use a “wake-up” exercise

Vert pull – Choose from Chins or pulldowns – Perform as many sets as possible in 10 minutes – 3-8 reps per sets – Start with a weight that you can move for 8 reps with good form – for now, leave that weight constant – Use a “wake-up” exercise

What they don’t know is the effect of blood flow restriction (BFR) on multi-joint training (ex. bench press or squat)

To test their hypotheses, researchers grabbed a bunch of college students, restricted the blood flow to their upper arms (biceps/triceps) and had them perform the following bench press workout.

The Workout

Flat Bench Press

4 sets / 75 reps total

30% of one repetition maximal (1-RM)

performed twice daily,

6 days week for 2 weeks.

During the exercise session, subjects in the BFR group placed elastic cuffs proximally on both arms, with incremental increases in external compression starting at 100 mmHg and ending at 160 mmHg.

Before and after the training, triceps brachii and pectoralis major muscle thickness (MTH), bench press 1-RM and serum anabolic hormones were measured.

The Results

Two weeks of training led to a 6% increase in 1-RM bench press strength in the BFR group. The control group increased their 1-RM strength by only 2%.

And it wasn’t just an increase in strength. The BFR group increased triceps and pectoralis major muscle thickness by 8% and 16% respectively while the control group increased pec thickness by 2% and actually lost 1% of tricep thickness.

Interestingly, there were no changes in baseline concentrations of anabolic hormones in either group.

Conclusion

These results suggest that occlusion training is not only effective for increasing the strength & hypertrophy of the occluded muscles (limb muscles), but that non-occluded muscles also receive significant strength & hypertrophy benefits from this form of training.

Warning

I am not suggesting that you start wrapping tensor bandages around your limbs before your next workout.

Restricting blood flow during strenuous physical activity may have unintended side effects as yet undiscovered, and I don’t want to be responsible for anyone throwing a blood clot and keeling over in the middle of the gym.

Let’s let the eggheads study it a bit longer.

Conclusions #2

Exercise science expands its knowledge base every day.

New training methods are created.

Old methods are improved upon.

And close minded “experts” who think that their method of training is superior to all others should get prepared for disappointment.

Range of Motion

1 and 1/2 reps – lower the weight all the way down, come up half way, lower again and then lift all the way back up

Tempo or Speed

There are a number of different systems for classifying lifting speed. For simplicity sake, I will stick with the basics: fast, moderate, slow & pause

Different speeds of motion can be used for the different portions of the lift: descent, bottom, ascent, top

You can mix and match the different speeds with the different portions of the lift depending on your training goals

Most bicep devotees lower the bar fast, bounce the bar off their thighs, and then lift the weight as fast as possible.

Personally, I prefer to lower my weights slowly, pause at the bottom to minimize the stretch shortening cycle, and then lift as fast as possible.

Weight of Load as a % of 1 Rep Max Lift

Your 1 Rep Max Lift is the maximum amount of weight you can successfully lift with good form.

If you are lifting for strength, you will likely choose a load that is close to your 1 Rep max. A lower percentage load is used when you are performing high reps for muscular endurance or for low reps and high speed in an attempt to develop muscular speed.

Caution – guys who are overly concerned with how much weight they can curl end up doing bicep curls that look like this….

Lifting Surface

This category is primarily employed by the Bosu or “functional training” crowd. Most lifters choose to keep their foot on solid ground as it allows them to generate maximum force. However, challenging you balance with various tools/techniques can have some carryover effect to the stabilizer muscles and overall athletic coordination. So, if you’re interested, here are some options:

Balance disks or Wobble Boards

a Bosu

a foam roller or a split foam roller

a stability ball – as if the Bosu wasn’t crazy enough

Training Volume

Depending on your training goals (power, strength, hypertrophy, endurance, speed), you can choose a variety of reps per set, sets per exercise and total sets/reps per workout

Rest Periods

This category refers to the length of the rest periods taken between sets.

Since building the Squidoo Lens about Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool Workout, I have become a big Deadpool fan and am really looking forward to the movie. I think the studio made a great choice casting Ryan “Smart Ass” Reynolds in the role of Wade Wilson.

But, as I mentioned in the lens, Ryan is naturally a pretty skinny guy.

As a result, adding a whole lot of muscle mass was job #1 as he got ready to take on the role of Deadpool.

In this post, I give you a mass building workout that will put Deadpool to shame.

And I have named it…

The Deadpool Mega Muscle Mass Workout

Like I mentioned in the previous article, the key to the success of this mass building phase is the focus on your nervous system and fast-twitch muscle fibers.

The theory is that since most hardgainers are slow-twitch fiber dominant, and slow-twitch fibers aren’t built for hypertrophy, we need to do something special to wake up those dormant fast-twitch fibers and force them to grow.

And here’s how we’re going to do it:

Each workout will consist of a series of 2-exercise supersets

The first exercise in each superset is designed to wake up the fast-twitch muscle fibers

The second exercise in each superset is designed to take advantage of the newly awakened fast-twitch fibers

How to Wake Up your Fast-Twitch Fibers

I was exposed to this concept about 15 years ago. At that time, I was training for powerlifting and strongman events. But my bench press was stuck. So, here’s what I did.

I would perform a partial bench press in a power rack with as much weight as I could handle. After a few sets of single reps, I would crawl over to standard bench press and attempt a maximum lift.

Okay, your fast-twitch fibers are awake…now what?

Slightly Less Intense Concentric Muscular Contractions…through a full range of motion and performed as fast as possible. Think explosive bench presses.

Slightly Less Intense Eccentric Muscular Contractions….but we drastically increase the time under tension. Sloooowwww negatives on those bench presses.

With no pause at the top or bottom of the lift. The muscle is always under tension.

Reps, Sets & Bodyparts

Here’s where individual goals play a part.

Are you interested in athletic performance or just getting big and buff like Arnie?

My GPs were athletes, so I had them doing total body workouts. If they had been interested in appearance only, I would have had them do split body workouts (ie Back & Bis on Monday, Chest & Tris on Wed)

When it comes to rep selection, I had the GPs perform 3-8 reps on the Wake Up sets and 3-8 reps on the Work sets

For sets, I was much more fluid and looked at performance and time.

Max time for a workout was 45 min

But more important than time was speed. If I noticed a drop in the speed of movement, we shut everything down and hit the showers….not together. You get my point.

So, there you go. That’s the nuts and bolts of the Deadpool Mega Muscle Mass Workout

In the next installment, I will give you some examples of Wake-Up Exercises and show you how to pair them with the traditional lifts to get the best results.

It’s a common theme in gyms all around the world – Guys want to get bigger and stronger.

So, that’s what we’re going to talk about today. A kick ass training program designed to get you bigger and stronger.

The “Do You Wanna Get Big and Strong?” Program

Phase 1 – 10 x 10 Training

In phase 1, we are going to use one of the all-time best size building programs.

This phase goes by many names….

Call it 10×10 training,

Call it German Volume Training,

Call it that mother-blanking workout that causes so much pain that you can barely walk after a workout, call it whatever you want.

Here’s what you’re going to do.

Lift 3x per week on non-sequential days (M,W,F)

Rest between lifting sessions (Tu,Th,Sa)

Sunday is devoted to either HIIT training or Cardio training or something else athletic.

Day 1 focuses on Chest & Back training

Day 2 focuses on Legs & Abs/Core

Day 3 focuses on Arms & Shoulders

Each bodypart will be hit with one main compound exercise for 10 sets of 10 reps.

You are going to stick with that same exercise for the next 6 weeks

I have also included a couple of supplemental exercises in each workout. If you find that your muscle mass isn’t noticeably increasing, remove the supplemental exercises and just stick with the basic 10×10 sets.

When it comes to weight selection, choose a weight that you perform for 20 reps. This means that the first few sets of the 10×10 will seem way too easy. But don’t worry, around set number 6, you WILL feel the pain.

If you are able to complete all 10 sets of 10 reps, you need to increase the weight. Don’t make a huge jump in weight. A 5% jump should be about right.

After 6 weeks, you should be ready to move onto Phase 2. However, if you find that you’re still growing like a weed after 6 weeks (and you aren’t too bored of doing the same exercises over and over) feel free to stay on Phase 1 for another 2 weeks.

Suggested Exercises

For the 10×10 exercises, we are going to choose big, long range of motion, compound exercises. We want to involve as many muscle groups as possible while still maintaining simplicity of movement.

In the past, some people have tried to incorporate olympic style lifts into 10×10 training. It doesn’t work real well. Too much volume. Too much fatigue. Too high a chance of injury. Stick to the basics

Suggested 10×10 Legs Exercises – Squats or Deadlift – Front squat, back squat, safety bar squat, trap bar squat – For deadlift, if technique is an issue, partial deadlifts out of the rack may be an option – set the pins just below knee height

Range of Motion

Partial range of motion – board presses, partial presses in the power rack or those partial range presses some guys do to make themselves feel strong

1 and 1/2 reps – lower the weight all the way down, come up half way, lower again and then lift all the way back up

Focusing on a specific range – i.e focusing on the lockout of a bench press puts the emphasis on the triceps instead of the chest

Tempo or Speed

There are a number of different systems for classifying lifting speed. For simplicity sake, I will stick with the basics: fast, moderate, slow & pause

Different speeds of motion can be used for the different portions of the lift: descent, bottom, ascent, top

You can mix and match the different speeds with the different portions of the lift depending on your training goals

Most benchers lower the bar fast, neglect to pause at the chest, and then lift the weight as fast as possible.

Powerlifters (in competition) have to pause at the bottom of their bench presses.

Personally, I prefer to lower my weights slowly, pause at the bottom to minimize the stretch shortening cycle, and then lift as fast as possible.

Weight of Load as a % of 1 Rep Max Lift

Your 1 Rep Max Lift is the maximum amount of weight you can successfully lift with good form.

If you are lifting for strength, you will likely choose a load that is close to your 1 Rep max. A lower percentage load is used when you are performing high reps for muscular endurance or for low reps and high speed in an attempt to develop muscular speed.

Lifting Surface

This category is primarily employed by the Bosu or “functional training” crowd. Most lifters choose to keep their foot on solid ground as it allows them to generate maximum force. However, challenging you balance with various tools/techniques can have some carryover effect to the stabilizer muscles and overall athletic coordination. So, if you’re interested, here are some options:

Balance disks – standing cable or band work gets even harder

a Bosu – pushups on the bosu

a foam roller – I know a guy who performs chest presses while lying on a foam roller to open up his rib cage & thoracic spine. Not sure if I am buying it, but he swears by it.

a stability ball – in place of a standard bench

Training Volume

Depending on your training goals (power, strength, hypertrophy, endurance, speed), you can choose a variety of reps per set, sets per exercise and total sets/reps per workout

Rest Periods

This category refers to the length of the rest periods taken between sets.

I have a love/hate relationships with Tabata training…..I love what it does for me, but I hate how I feel around minute #3.

Seriously…Tabata training is one of the best ways to quickly improve fitness & melt body-fat. If that piques your interest, read on….

Pre-Workout Checklist

Pick an exercise that uses a lot of muscle – squats, power cleans, pull-ups, etc… To make that selection, you can choose from the list of exercises that I have provided or pick your own if you think my choices stink.

Pick a weight that you can handle for at least 7 reps.

Execution

Perform as many reps as possible within 20 seconds – maintain good form

Rest for 10 seconds

Perform 7 more sets

Move on to the next exercise

Note: Use a clock, stopwatch, workout buddy or a dedicated HIIT timer to keep track of your work sets and rest periods. I know of two HIIT timers on the market.

Remember, the goal is to go as hard as you can for 8 sets of 20 seconds.

Don’t use this workout to try out new exercises – You won’t be able to develop maximum intensity if you need to concentrate on technique. Choose exercises that you know you can perform effectively and safely.

If you can’t make it through all 8 sets because of the lactic burn to a muscle, eliminate that exercise and replace it with one that uses more muscles. e.g. a push press uses more muscles than an overhead barbell press.

Feel free to re-arrange the order of Exercises 1, 2 and 3. It doesn’t really make a difference.

Sets 5 to 7 are for advanced athletes only. Remember, intensity is the key to Tabata success. Don’t try and pace yourself in order to add another set. Go full out on each set. Believe me, 4 sets of full intensity Tabatas should be enough to have you soaking wet with sweat and bordering on nausea.

Workout # 2

Vertical Pull Movement

Horizontal Push Movement

Hamstrings/Glute Dominant Movement

Core Stabilization – focus on Rotation and Lateral Flexion

Vertical Pull Movement – optional

Horizontal Push Movement – optional

Hamstring/Glute Dominant Movement – optional

Feel free to re-arrange the order of Exercises 1, 2 and 3. It doesn’t really make a difference.

Sets 5 to 7 are for advanced athletes only. Remember, intensity is the key to Tabata success. Don’t try and pace yourself in order to add another set. Go full out on each set. Believe me, 4 sets of full intensity Tabatas should be enough to have you soaking wet with sweat and bordering on nausea.

Vertical Push Movement

Horizontal Pull Movement

Body-weight Row – use an adjustable power rack or Smith machine. This allows you to modify the angle of pull and the percentage of body-weight. Also, change your grips from set to set – width, underhand, overhand

1 Arm or 2 Arm Seated Rows – I prefer the standing rows because of their high demand for stabilization, but the seated version is pretty good as well

Quadriceps Dominant Movement

Quad Dominant Lunges – Lunge forward onto the ball of your foot AND keep your step short and allow the knee to travel past your toes…I know, I know, everyone says not to lunge this way, but it really hits the quads. BTW, take a look at how far your knee travels past your toes as you climb a flight of stairs…ooooh scary stuff.

Horizontal Push Movement

Push-Ups – like the Body-weight Row, use a Smith machine to adjust angles and body-weight resistance. Also, adjust hand placement (width, overhand, underhand) from set to set. Trust me, switching grips will increase the number of reps you will be able to perform

Stay away from any standard bench press type exercise. The lactic acid will hit way too soon. You will never get a good Tabata workout…trust me. The cable/band exercise is the best choice. Even the push-ups allow you to use your legs and core to help perform the lift. You need these extra muscles to take some of the load

They address the two primary functions of the core musculature unlike any other movement.

They are infinitely scalable. Beginners can modify the movements to protect their lower backs while advanced athletes can perform variations that completely tax their strength, balance and co-ordination.

This is the part of the post where I discuss the science behind the exercise, so if that is not your thing, please skip ahead to the videos.

Core Function and the Roll-Out

The two main functions of the core are:

The stabilization of the spine via abdominal compression

Movement – spinal flexion, extension, rotation, tilting the pelvis

Spinal Stabilization

Physiologists often use the analogy of the human spine being like the mast of a sailing ship.

The core muscles – Transverse abdominus, Rectus abdominus, External and Internal obliques, Multifidus, Quadratus lumborum, Iliopsoas, and the Erector spinae all work together as a group to support your spine from your pelvis to your rib cage. While they all work as a team, the Transverse abdominus is the key player.

While there is great debate about the best way to train the Transverse Abdominis (T.A.), there is a general consensus that any movement where you are forced to tighten you core against the demands of gravity or an outside source WILL be effective to develop the T.A.

One of the most popular T.A. dominant exercises is the bridge or plank.

The Roll-out and the Stability Ball Pike/Knee-In provide the same benefit as the bridge, but with the added benefit of being a dynamic, rather than static movement.

Core/Spinal Movement

Spinal Flexion is controlled mainly by the Rectus abdominus and the Iliopsoas. The most popular Spinal Flexion exercises are the crunch and reverse crunch.

The Roll-out produces the same movement as the crunch with the added benefit of spinal stabilization.

The Stability Ball Pike/Knee-In gives you the same benefits as the reverse crunch with the added stabilization.

Spinal Extension is controlled mainly by the Erector spinae and the Multifidus muscles. Spinal extension training is generally addressed by posterior chain movements like deadlifts, good mornings and bodyweight hip extension movements. As such, this section of the “core” will be omitted from this post.

Lateral Flexion is controlled mainly by the External and Internal obliques. Lateral flexion is usually trained by some form of side bends.

Rotation is controlled mainly by the Obliques, Multifidus and the Erector spinae. Spinal rotation exercises have been the flavor of the month for a little while now. One of the most popular is the wood chop.

You will have to forgive my lack of video (my digital recorder was stolen, hence the youtube videos), but if you can imagine, performing the Roll-out moving at various angles will give you an intense lateral flexion movement combined with forward flexion and stabilization.

With the Stability Ball Pike/Knee-In, you can combine spinal flexion and stabilization with lateral flexion and rotation by rotating and twisting the hips as you move the stability ball back and forth.

Scaleability

As you have seen in the accompanying videos, there are various ways to perform the Roll-out and the Stability Ball Pike/Knee-In.

With the Roll-outs:

beginners could start on their knees with a stability balls,

increasing the difficulty by moving their arms further away from their body.

graduating to the ab wheel,

then a loaded barbell.

The variations are as endless as your imagination. For example, stretch tubing can be attached to the ab wheel in order to increase or decrease exercise intensity.

Conclusion

As I said at the outset, the Roll-out and the Stability Ball Pike/Knee-In are the best core exercises. I hope that I may have converted a few of the ab crunchers out there.

Since then, I have written in more detail about Structural Balance and Energy System Fitness. Today I will try to explain the concept of Muscular Strength and how it applies to overall physical fitness.

Intro to Muscular Strength

This component of physical fitness deals specifically with the performance of the body’s skeletal muscles.

Your skeletal muscles contract and stretch in order to produce movement. Simple.

How they produce that movement is less simple.

Your body’s muscles are highly adaptable. They will react to the stresses that you place upon them.

Sit on the couch and they will atrophy.

Try and run fast and they adapt to produce faster contractions.

Lift heavy objects and they will increase their ability to produce maximum strength.

What is Strength?

Muscular Strength can and has been categorized/defined in a variety of different ways. I am choosing to divide Muscular Strength into four categories, based primarily on Newton’s Second Law – (force is equal to the product of mass and acceleration.)

Mass relates to how much weight/mass a muscle or muscle group can move.

Acceleration relates to how fast that weight/mass is moved.

Note: You don’t need to know all this science stuff, but it can really help your strength training if you do 🙂

There are 4 Categories of Muscular Strength

Maximum Muscular Strength

Maximum Muscular Power

Maximum Muscular Speed

Maximum Muscular Endurance

Each of these categories has different characteristics with regard to mass and acceleration

1. Maximum muscular strength

Maximum Muscular Strength is an extreme form of muscular strength.

In relation to newton’s Second Law it completely favors mass over acceleration. It is a measure of the maximum mass that a muscle, or muscle group can move, regardless of time.

Think immovable object v.s irresistible force.

Pushing your ‘out of gas’ car up a hill to the gas station at the crest of the hill.

Your maximum squat at the gym.

Got it?

The importance of maximum muscular strength?

While this is a point of debate amongst both academics, coaches and athletes, I believe that maximum muscular strength is the most important component of overall muscular strength.

Looking at the force-velocity curve, we see a relationship between force/mass and velocity / acceleration.

Maximum Muscular Strength would be represented by the point on the curve in the upper left corner.

Muscular Speed would be represented by the point on the lower right.

Power is the combination of strength and speed.

If you were to increase your maximum strength, you would shift the force-velocity curve and your muscular power upwards.

Conversely, if you could increase your speed of movement, you would shift the curve to the right, also increasing your power.

Increasing both strength and speed would push the curve both up and to the right, resulting in even greater increases in power.

For most athletes, that is a welcome goal.

How do you develop maximum muscular strength?

Maximum Muscular Strength is developed using different forms and methods of resistance training. Generally speaking, heavy weights for low repetitions are used to develop max strength.

As this is a very complicated subject, I will be discussing this topic in detail in future posts.

Maximum muscular speed

As mentioned above, Maximum muscular speed is the ability to produce a low force muscular movement very quickly. As seen in the force-velocity curve, muscular speed is both a relative and absolute term.

Relative, because your mass (along with a bunch of other “stuff”) impacts the speed that you can achieve. To illustrate this point, let’s look at the animal kingdom.

A cheetah, while incredibly fast – 60+ miles per hour is no match for the peregrine falcon, which can dive at speeds up to 200 miles per hour.

In the world of athletics, speed is also relative. The world’s fastest sumo wrestler may be fast against his peers, but against an Olympic 100m champion???

And when we’re comparing apples to apples, Maximum Muscular Speed is often the determining factor in an athletic competition.

For example, superior hand speed often makes the difference in a boxing match between two men in the same weight category.

How do you develop maximum muscular speed?

Like Maximum Muscular Strength, speed can be developed using resistance training techniques. However, Max Speed training most often involves body weight training that attempt to maximize both the condition of the muscles and the performance of the neuro-muscular system as a whole.

I will also be covering this topic in more detail in future posts.

Maximum muscular endurance

Maximum muscular endurance is the ability to produce a smaller amount of force, but do it for a long time. A marathon runner is a great example of muscular endurance. His body weight requires less force to move than your car, in neutral, going uphill; but he is able to move that weight for 2+ hours non-stop.

Why do you need maximum muscular endurance?

Maximum muscular endurance is the least sexy of the 4 categories of Muscular Strength. However, it is the most vital when it comes to general health and longevity. While not being taken to extremes, the training to improve muscular endurance has a beneficial effect on your cardio-vascular health.

How do you develop maximum muscular endurance?

Maximum Muscular Endurance is generally trained with body-weight exercises. While there may be a need for injury prevention resistance training exercises, most endurance athletes focus their training on their sport of choice.

I will also cover the training methodologies of endurance athletes in a future post.

Maximum Muscular power

Muscular power is the combination of maximum strength and speed.

An Olympic weightlifter is a great example of power.

How do you develop Maximum Muscular Power?

As Maximum Muscular Power is a combination of Max Strength and Max Speed, the development of power involves a combination of training methodologies.

I look to cover this topic in my next post.

Muscular Strength

I hope this introductory post was helpful in helping you understand Muscular strength training and how it impacts athletic performance and general physical fitness.

In future posts, I will go into a more detailed explanation of each of the 4 categories. I will also provide same training programs for each category of Muscular Strength.